(P.S: They’ve never t before, because Han Bing wasnt present during Hong Ye’s birth)
Hán Bīng’s eyebrow arched. "Ice queen?"
"It’s a complint! You’re very regal! I’m very intimidated!" Wēn Jìng bead, apparently not intimidated at all. "It’s so nice to et you!"
Hán Bīng stared at her for a long mont.
Then her lips twitched again.
"You’re... not what I expected."
"I get that a lot!" Wēn Jìng laughed. "Now co on, both of you! We have another baby to prepare for! And I brought snacks!"
She grabbed Bai Yue’s hand with one hand and Hán Bīng’s wrist with the other and began dragging them both toward the village.
Bai Yue looked at Hán Bīng.
Hán Bīng looked at Bai Yue.
For the first ti, they shared an expression of complete, mutual understanding.
What just happened?
~
The walk back was... chaotic.
Wēn Jìng talked nonstop, about the journey, about the herbs in her basket, about the poems Yàn Shū had sent her, about how excited she was to et the cubs, about how she missed her own son and grandson, about how she hoped the baby had Yàn Shū’s gentle nature but Bai Yue’s fighting spirit.
"She’s... a lot," Bai Yue whispered to Hán Bīng.
"She’s like you" Hán Bīng whispered back. "Like you. Is this what your kind are like?"
"So of us are calm!"
"Are you?"
"...No."
"I thought so."
By the ti they reached the village clearing, the sun was beginning to set, painting the sky in shades of orange and gold.
The scene that greeted them was.....surprisingly peaceful.
The cubs were playing near the central fire. The husbands were.....hovering. Gū Gū was drinking tea and looking smug.
And Tiě Xióng was still sitting on his log, still being glared at by Mo Xiao.
"Wēn Jìng!" Yàn Shū’s voice cracked as he spotted his mother. He sprinted across the clearing, and crashed into her with enough force to knock them both over.
"My boy!" Wēn Jìng laughed, hugging him tightly. "My anxious, wonderful boy! Look at you! You look healthier! Happier! The poems didn’t do justice!"
"MOTHER, EVERYONE CAN HEAR YOU."
"Let them hear! I’m proud of you!"
Hán Bīng watched the reunion with an expression that was almost.....wistful.
Then Wēn Jìng was on her feet again, pulling Yàn Shū toward Hán Bīng.
"You must et my son properly! Yàn Shū, this is Han Shān’s mother! Han Shān’s mother, this is my son! Isn’t he wonderful? He writes the most beautiful poems!"
Hán Bīng looked at Yàn Shū, who was turning maybe seventeen shades of red.
"You," she said, "are the scholar."
"Yes. I an—yes, that’s—statistically, I am a scholar, yes—"
"He’s very smart," Wēn Jìng interrupted proudly. "He gets it from ."
"I thought you got lost coming here."
"Smart doesn’t an good with directions! They’re different skills!"
Hán Bīng stared at her for a mont.
Then she laughed.
It was quiet. Brief. But unmistakably a laugh.
"You’re absurd," she told Wēn Jìng.
"I know! It’s my best quality!"
The evening passed in a blur of food, laughter, and the kind of chaotic family energy that Bai Yue had sohow, impossibly, co to love.
Wēn Jìng was indeed the calm one, in the sense that she was completely unflappable. Nothing fazed her. Not Hán Bīng’s icy glares. Not Gū Gū’s sharp tongue. Not the bear king sulking on his log. Not even the panther triplets climbing her like a tree.
"You’re so soft!" Miao Miao announced, patting Wēn Jìng’s cheeks. "Like Bai Yue, but older!"
"Thank you, tiny panther! You’re very soft too!"
"I know!"
Hán Bīng, anwhile, had sohow acquired Ruì Xuě again. The snow leopard cub was showing her his "special pounce," which involved jumping approximately three inches off the ground and landing in a heap.
"Did you see?!"
"I saw." Hán Bīng’s voice was warm. "Excellent form."
"REALLY?!"
"No. But you’ll improve."
Ruì Xuě bead anyway.
Bai Yue sat by the fire, watching it all, and felt her heart might actually burst.
~
(So, another ti skip! I don’t trust myself to not drag out this arc so! I’m skipping to when she has the child!)
Several Weeks Later
The village had settled into a new rhythm.
The grandmothers had established a peace, which ant they bickered constantly but no longer caused temperature fluctuations or spontaneous tea-related incidents.
Tiě Xióng had.....not left.
No one was happy about this. But he had stopped attacking people and had sohow beco Mo Xiao’s permanent shadow, which everyone found deeply unsettling.
"He follows now," Mo Xiao had reported flatly. "He says I’m ’interesting.’ I don’t want to be interesting."
"You’re very interesting," Tiě Xióng had replied from behind him.
"GO AWAY."
"No."
And the baby?
Zhēn was.....ready.
Bai Yue could feel it. The weight. The pressure. The way her body had been sending increasingly urgent signals for the past twenty-four hours.
But tonight....tonight was the communal al. Everyone was gathered around the central fire. The cubs were playing. The husbands were hovering. The grandmothers were arguing about naming traditions.
And Bai Yue was trying to eat.
She lifted a piece of roasted at to her mouth.
Paused.
Frowned.
"The at is fine," Hán Bīng observed from across the fire. "Why are you making that face?"
"It’s not the at."
"Then what—"
Bai Yue’s eyes went wide.
The piece of at dropped from her fingers.
"Uh."
Everyone froze.
"Uh?" Han Shān repeated, already moving toward her. "What does ’uh’ an?"
"Uh ans—" Bai Yue grabbed her belly, her breath catching. "Uh ans I think Zhēn is tired of waiting."
The clearing went absolutely silent.
Then chaos.
"THE BABY IS COMING?!" Yòu Lín shrieked.
"THE BABY IS COMING!" Ruì Xuě echoed.
"EVERYONE CALM DOWN!" Gū Gū roared, brandishing her stick.
"I’M CALM!" Zhāo Yàn yelled, not calm at all.
"Statistically, we need—we need—I don’t know what we need!" Yàn Shū wailed.
Hán Bīng stood, ice forming at her feet. "Everyone. OUT. Now. We need space. We need hot water. We need—"
"I NEED TO PUSH," Bai Yue interrupted through gritted teeth.
The grandmothers exchanged looks.
Gū Gū grabbed her stick.
Hán Bīng rolled up her sleeves.
Wēn Jìng smiled warmly.
"Let’s have a baby," she said.
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